Jay Harvey Upstage

In recent releases linked to the consequential sleuthing of Zev Feldman, a fuller picture of pianist Kenny Barron,  often in collaborative roles, has emerged. He is accountable for many of the successful aspects of Yusef Lateef's "Alight Upon the Lake" (Resonance) part of a vast trove of recordings made at Chicago's Jazz Showcase and unearthed by Feldman. The new "Live in Brecon: So Many Lovely Things" ( Elemental Music)  finds him in charge at the high noon of his career, heading a trio before a receptive audience in Brecon, Wales, in August 1995. His simpatico trio mates are two stars of their instruments who have since passed away: bassist Ray Drummond and drummer Ben Riley .  The two-disc set, recorded with revealing detail and care, shows off Kenny Barron: Mastery in a lovely setting the trio in a wealth of repertoire drawn mostly from standards freshly interpreted, plus a few originals and three jazz chestnuts by Freddie Hubbard and Thelonious Monk....

Ex-Marine's impulsive act arouses silhouettes. Two recent news events confirm the timeliness of a documentary-style new production by American Lives Theatre: Barney Frank died the other day, remembered mainly for his witty, progressive service in the U.S. Senate and his stature as the first openly gay national political figure. The other current event is among the Trump-initiated proposals for physical changes to Washington, D.C., a triumphal arch near the entrance to Arlington National Cemetery, a gesture of vaunting personal glory from a noted disparager of military sacrifice. Andrew Kramer's "Arlington, or Your Forgotten American Hero" opened Thursday in spectacular but far from superficial fashion in the Russell Theatre, the main stage at the Phoenix Theatre Cultural Centre. The story is steeped in the irony of American heroism, distorted by political agendas, bias, and cultural fashion. Chris Saunders' direction allows the cast to probe the wide range of beha...

  Mozart death mask, 1791 A nobleman's vanity generated the mystery surrounding Mozart's Requiem from its origins in the final, frantic phase of Wolfgang Mozart's career. The Austrian master scrambled to complete promised works and was bedeviled by health problms that were to kill him on December 5, 1791. The scholarly consensus is that an attack of acute rheumatic fever caused his premature death.  The commission to set the Latin Mass for the Dead was attended with secrecy because of an aristocrat's habit of presenting new music in his court as if he had written it. The "ghostwriting" assignment came to be associated with Mozart's declining health and the composer's unfounded suspicion that he was being poisoned.  Such a mixture of fact and fancy shadowed his final weeks and eventually led posthumously to a hit play and movie called "Amadeus," linking  Antonio Salieri to his artistic superior's demise in his mid-30s out of the court comp...

Derrick Gardner's sidelong glance There is a cornucopia of legacy for capable admirers to contribute to a musical celebration of Miles Davis, so my report on the first set of a May 15 tribute is bound to be inadequate. Just over an hour of music the immortal trumpeter-bandleader (1926-1991) made famous offers the merest sampling of his noteworthy achievements. Of course, how can you represent the lengthy discography, often gathered in multi-disc packages during the "electric phase" of his career, starting with the landmark "Bitches Brew"? Two sets might have given this account more balance, so it could be argued I should have stayed till the bar closed at the Jazz Kitchen and two trumpeters, two drummers, a saxophonist, a pianist, and a bassist had left the stage. There were some puzzles in the often excellent set. The climax of the performance was announced as "John McLaughlin," a Davis original from the "Bitches Brew" era. But unless I ha...

An early adopter of Islam among black jazzmen was Yusef Lateef (1920-2013), who went his own way musically as well, sounding slightly exotic even while offering ample evidence of rootedness in the mainstream: playing jazz oboe from time to time helped with suggestions of inspiration from afar.  A 1975 date of his quartet at the time has been unearthed by jazz archaeologist Zev Feldman under the title "Alight Upon the Lake" ( Resonance Records ). As an LP set it was a significant feature on Record Store Day last month; I received the two-CD version for review. The subtitle is "Live at the Jazz Showcase," making it a laudable project issuing tapes the proprietor, Joe Segal, made over the years of the musicians he presented at his Chicago club. Lateef was admired as a musical and lifestyle mentor by younger musicians, such  as Bennie Maupin, who's quoted to that effect in the expansive booklet accompanying the release. As near as I can tell, however, he was rarely ...

Everyone remembers the one spate of really bad winter weather we had in January. Whether or Natalie Debikey Scanio, Ronen guest not you have wiped away that snowy spell from your memory, Ronen Chamber Ensemble is making up for interruption in what has turned out to be its season-ender. "Brilliant Winds" came to fruition Monday and Tuesday at the Jewish Community Center and Indiana History Center , respectively. Two-thirds of Ronen's artistic leadership, Jennifer Christen and Alistair Howlett, play wind instruments in the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, so it was fitting that once this season's Ronen showcase for music activated by breath had to be postponed because of inclement weather, it would be rescheduled for a couple of cool, seasonable spring evenings.  The crowning achievement came with Francis Poulenc's droll, sparkling Sextet for wind quintet and piano, which I heard Monday evening in the JCC's Laikin Auditorium. The performance had the sheen of fu...